Whatever Happened To Peri Gilpin?
Peri Gilpin is no stranger to anyone who's watched television during the 1990s and 2000s. While her IMDb profile lists more than 70 screen roles, one of these stands head and shoulders above the others: her turn as Roz Doyle, wisecracking producer and friend/foil to Kelsey Grammer's radio shrink in the beloved sitcom "Frasier." Gilpin played the role throughout the show's 11-season run, which lasted from 1993 until 2004. Gilpin loved her character and her co-stars, but she especially loved the razor-sharp writing. "Most sitcoms you can see right through," Gilpin told Texas Monthly back in 1996, lauding the writers' refusal to pander to the lowest common denominator. "They go, 'We're going to play to people that have our attention span.' Sometimes the jokes lob over my head, but that's wonderful. It's like a puzzle," she added.
While Roz remains Gilpin's most memorable role, Gilpin has remained busy in TV and film over the years, additionally lending her voice to both animated projects and important causes. She's also returned to her first love, the stage.
The Dallas-raised actor has certainly enjoyed a prolific Hollywood career, although it shouldn't be surprising that the massive success of "Frasier" tends to overshadow the other work she's done. To learn more about what Peri Gilpin has been up to, keep reading.
Peri Gilpin nearly lost out on her signature role
While "Frasier" fans probably could never imagine anyone else playing Roz Doyle, Peri Gilpin was not the first actor cast in the role. When casting the "Cheers" spinoff, two actors were frontrunners to play Roz: Gilpin and Lisa Kudrow. Kudrow ultimately landed the part, though there was no bad blood between the two. "Lisa and I went on at least five auditions together for Roz. We became fast friends because we were in the same boat, young actresses trying to get a job," Gilpin recalled for Vanity Fair.
However, after seeing Kudrow in action, producers second-guessed their decision, firing Kudrow after just several days. "I wasn't right for the part [or] for the chemistry of the group. So that wasn't working ..." Kudrow told "The Howard Stern Show" (via People). Gilpin was then brought in — and nailed it. "They wrote a real three-dimensional person and [she] is the kind of person you always have at work, the person with the smart-ass comments," Gilpin told Entertainment Weekly of portraying Crane's radio co-pilot and sassy best bud.
Roz proved to be a perfect fit for Gilpin, with the character eventually being described as a "feminist icon." According to Gilpin, this was simply how the character was written. "It was just the way Roz was," she told Vulture. "I think of the women in the writers' room who were writing their fantasy character and how lucky I was that I got to play her."
She became a mom right after Frasier's run
Two days before the final episode of "Frasier" aired in 2004, Peri Gilpin and husband Christian Vincent welcomed twin daughters, Ava and Stella. The babies were born via a surrogate. According to the Pacific Fertility Center Los Angeles, Gilpin and Vincent, who wed in 1999, had unsuccessfully tried to have a baby for several years. Their attempts at IVF failed, ultimately leading them down the surrogacy path. Interestingly, Gilpin wasn't the only "Frasier" star to have a child with the help of a surrogate. Kelsey Grammer and then-wife Camille Grammer had similarly experienced infertility and later welcomed two children via surrogacy: daughter Mason and son Jude.
In the years since "Frasier" ended, Gilpin has remained close with her former co-stars. "I still see everyone from that show today," she told Ability Magazine in 2010. As she explained, she was particularly close with Jane Leeves, who played Daphne Moon on the show. "Jane Leeves lives two doors down from me, her child is my goddaughter, and my kids are her goddaughters and my kids are in kindergarten with her son, who I love. She's a dear, dear friend."
The proud mom frequently shares photos of her girls on social media. In 2022, in fact, she posted a pic on Instagram of herself and her daughters on their way to their dad's art opening at a New York City gallery.
Peri Gilpin and her Frasier co-star formed their own production company
The bond that Peri Gilpin formed with "Frasier" co-star Jane Leeves not only led to a longstanding friendship, but it also produced a business partnership. While still starring together on "Frasier," the two set up their own production company, Bristol Cities — the company's name played off of Leeves' British heritage and is actually cockney rhyming slang for a euphemism describing women's breasts. In 1999, a profile on Leeves in the Mail on Sunday noted that the Bristol Cities offices were on the Paramount lot, adjacent to the soundstage where "Frasier" was shot. She was, she explained, "trying to knuckle down and get this little company we have here off the ground."
In 2000, The Guardian reported that Bristol Cities had picked up the U.S. rights to hit British sitcom "The Vicar of Dibley," with plans to produce a version for American television. The project was ultimately sold to the Fox network and retitled "The Minister of Divine." The role of the titular vicar — played by Dawn French in the original — eventually went to "Cheers" alum Kirstie Alley.
A pilot was shot in 2007, but the network ultimately decided not to put the show on its schedule, sadly resulting in failure for Bristol Cities' first project. The unaired pilot of "The Minister of Divine" still exists on YouTube, however, and the curious are invited to give it a spin to see what might have been.
She's ventured into voice acting for animated series and commercials
While Peri Gilpin starred on "Frasier," she began carving out a sideline as a voice actor in animated movies, TV series, and video games. These included providing the voice of Hecate, goddess of the underworld, in the Disney series "Hercules" (based on the animated feature). She was also cast in voice roles in "The Lionhearts" and "Superman: The Animated Series," among others.
Following the "Frasier" finale in 2004, Gilpin continued as a voice actor, appearing in the TV series "Danny Phantom," the feature "Thru the Moebius Strip," and two animated "Hellboy" movies. She also utilized her voice talents in several episodes of the Fox animated comedy "King of the Hill." In addition, Gilpin has lent her distinctive pipes to TV commercials, including a 2004 spot for Johnsonville sausage and commercials for Wells Fargo.
TV commercials, in fact, are where Gilpin got her start as an actor when she was just a kid. During an appearance on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," she recalled the time her actor mother, after spending 12 hours shooting a Rice-A-Roni commercial with child actors playing her children, came home and declared that if her actual kids had performed with her instead, the commercial would have taken less time to shoot. "So she put us all into the business after that, and we all did commercials," Gilpin said.
Peri Gilpin has been a frequent TV guest star
After "Frasier" ended its run, Peri Gilpin didn't immediately jump back into another full-time TV series. As the mother of twin infants, she instead opted to appear in guest spots on various shows and the occasional TV movie — including 2006's "For the Love of a Child" and, that same year, "Women of a Certain Age."
During those post-"Frasier" years, Gilpin also appeared as a guest star on "Medium," "Desperate Housewives," and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." Other guest-starring credits have included "Hot in Cleveland" (reuniting her with pal and former "Frasier" co-star Jane Leeves), "Grey's Anatomy," "Modern Family," "Masters of Sex," and a four-episode arc on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." In the latter, she portrayed a key character, Barbara Russell, wife of series protagonist D.B. Russell, played by Ted Danson.
Playing spouses on the show, Gilpin and Danson had some past history together; prior to being cast as Roz in "Frasier," Gilpin appeared in a 1993 episode of "Cheers" in which Danson starred and from which "Frasier" had spun off. As a result, both actors had spent years — albeit at different times and on different shows — working alongside Kelsey Grammer. During her time on "CSI," Gilpin appeared on an episode of the CBS daytime talk show "The Talk," where she discussed how much she enjoyed acting alongside Danson. "He's just an open book and all the pages are great!" she gushed, as reported by Broadway World.
Make It or Break It marked her return to television in a full-time role
In 2009, Peri Gilpin made a full-time return to television when she joined the cast of "Make It or Break It." The series, which aired on the ABC Family Channel (which has since been rebranded as Freeform), follows a group of teenage gymnasts on track to compete in the Olympics. Gilpin portrayed Kim Keeler, mother of aspiring Olympians Payson (Ayla Kell) and Becca (Mia Rose Frampton). "I play the mom of a young gymnast who is the best in the country — America's most elite athlete in gymnastics," she told Ability Magazine of her role. "The show actually follows four girls ... It's really interesting, because there's an authentic quality to the way these young girls talk to each other, and an authentic quality in the way they talk to their parents."
When researching the role, Gilpin didn't need to look around too extensively to find someone with experience as a one-time Olympic wannabe. "My agent was actually an Olympic ice skater," she revealed in an interview with The TV Chick. "So we always talked about this over the years, and he's told me a lot about his life doing it, and I kind of know how hard it was for him." Gilpin appeared in 40 episodes throughout the series' first two seasons but did not return for the third (and final) season.
Her mother's death led her to advocate for cancer awareness
In 1997, Peri Gilpin lost her mother, Sandra Jo Oldham, to leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that originates in the smooth muscles of the body. As Gilpin told Ability Magazine, after giving a magazine interview discussing her mother's cancer, she received a call from the Sarcoma Foundation of America asking if she'd consider becoming involved. "And I said yes," she said. Gilpin is an honorary member of the organization's board, alongside such other honorary board members as "Real Housewives of New York City" alum Carole Radziwill and Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei.
In 2012, Gilpin appeared on Marie Osmond's daytime talk show, "Marie," to promote a campaign originating from the National Breast Cancer Coalition, with a goal of ending breast cancer by 2020. During that appearance, Gilpin explained how her mother's illness led her to embrace an advocacy role. "She was sick for a very long time before she was diagnosed," Gilpin said, recalling that her mother first started experiencing symptoms at age 36, was diagnosed at 42, and died at 55.
"I'd been with my mom so much, when she left the planet, I ... just didn't know what to do with myself," Gilpin said of the work she's done for cancer organizations. "I wanted to give that energy somewhere."
She's appeared in Lifetime and Hallmark movies
Among the various made-for-TV movies in which Peri Gilpin has starred, arguably the most high-profile was "The Choking Game." Airing on Lifetime in 2014, the film investigates the popular and frighteningly dangerous trend among teenagers in which they intentionally cut off oxygen to experience a drug-like high. Gilpin starred as the mother of teenager Taryn (Freya TIngley) who experiments with the practice. Speaking with My Take on TV, Gilpin admitted that, as the mother of two kids who would soon be teens, "The Choking Game" gave her some insight into what she'd soon face as a parent. "Doing this project, I feel like I get to explore a little bit in the future and see what my kids are gonna be up against," she shared.
Gilpin also pursued some lighter fare when she appeared in the 2017 Hallmark Channel rom-com "A Dash of Love," playing the owner of a five-star restaurant in the heartwarming story of two chefs who fall in love while opening their own pop-up eatery.
Gilpin apparently enjoyed her Hallmark experience enough to return for another movie the following year, "How to Train Your Husband or (How to Pick Your Second Husband First)."
Peri Gilpin made a short-lived sitcom return with Mr. Robinson
In 2015, Peri Gilpin made a long-awaited return to the sitcom milieu, joining the cast of "Mr. Robinson." The NBC comedy starred "The Office" alum Craig Robinson as a struggling musician moonlighting as a substitute teacher who finds himself in unfamiliar territory when he's hired full-time as a teacher. Gilpin played the school's principal who doesn't see eye-to-eye with the unconventional new educator. Interestingly, Gilpin wasn't part of the show when the original pilot was filmed in 2013; at that point, the series was a single-camera comedy, with Jean Smart playing the principal until it was re-imagined as a traditional four-camera sitcom. Gilpin was then cast as the character who once had a bad romance with a famous musician and who is deeply wary of Robinson's unorthodox teaching techniques.
Speaking with WWLP-22 News, Gilpin admitted it felt good to be back on a sitcom, performing in front of a live studio audience as she had on "Frasier." "That energy, and having that live audience ... they're really there, laughing," she said. "To get that experience of being live in front of an audience, and performing in front of them, there's nothing else like it."
Unfortunately, the show, which aired during the summer, did not have a long run; NBC canceled it after airing the six episodes shot. However, Gilpin wasn't unemployed for long, jumping right into a seven-episode stint on the CBS drama "Scorpion."
She returned to theater
Prior to finding success onscreen in Hollywood, Peri Gilpin got her start on the stage. In fact, she spent four straight summers appearing in productions at the famed Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts. These included "The Crucible," "Hawthorne Country," and "Peer Gynt." The pull of theater has continued to attract Gilpin over the years; in 1998, in fact, she spent her "Frasier" summer hiatus starring in an off-Broadway production of "As Bees in Honey Drown."
Among the many stage productions in which Gilpin has appeared are a 2017 production of "Miracle on 34th Street," opposite Alfred Molina, at the Pasadena Playhouse, and a 2019 production of "Slow Food," staged at Vermont's Dorset Theater Festival. This proved to be a very special one for "Frasier" fans, as she co-starred with Dan Butler, who played perpetually apoplectic radio sports host Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe on the sitcom.
More recently, Gilpin headlined a 2023 production for the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, starring in a staged reading of "The Little Prince."
The actor mourned the death of all three of her siblings
Peri Gilpin was hit with another tragic loss in August 2023 when her brother, actor Marc Gilpin, died at the age of 56. While he never achieved the level of success as his sister, Marc did amass an impressive roster of screen credits as a child actor from the late 1970s until the late 1980s. Among these are the films "Jaws 2," "Where's Willie?" and "The Legend of the Lone Ranger" and such TV series as "CHiPs," "Silver Spoons," "Fantasy Island," and "China Beach." As an adult, Gilpin shifted from acting to a career as a software engineer.
Gilpin announced her brother's death to The Hollywood Reporter, confirming that he'd died after a lengthy battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer.
Sadly, Marc was the third of Peri's siblings to die young. Her sister, April Gilpin, died from natural causes in 2017 at age 48. Just a few years later, her other sister, Patti Gilpin, died from cancer at age 57.
She made a brief return to Frasier in 2023
Rumors of a "Frasier" reboot had been swirling for years but finally took shape when it was announced that Kelsey Grammer would return to his most iconic role in a revival for the Paramount+ streaming service. In this new iteration, Frasier moves back to Boston to become a professor at Harvard after enjoying TV success with a "Dr. Phil"-like talk show. None of the original "Frasier" cast members are back, however; new characters are introduced instead, including Frasier's now-grown son, Freddy (Nicholas Lyndhurst), and nephew, David (Jack Cutmore-Scott), progeny of Niles (David Hyde-Pierce) and Daphne (Jane Leeves) from the original.
A few familiar faces do pop up, though. In one episode, Bebe Neuwirth reprises her role as Lilith, Frasier's ex-wife, while Peri Gilpin returns as Roz in a brief cameo in the Season 1 finale. In the heartfelt scene, Roz surprises Frasier after Freddy contacts her to say his down-in-the-dumps dad would appreciate seeing his old friend.
"It was fun to revisit and felt really good. I wasn't expecting it not to be, but I really was surprised at how great it felt to be there again," Gilpin told TheWrap of reprising her beloved sitcom role. In fact, she enjoyed the experience so much that she signaled her openness to returning if the opportunity arose. "I genuinely love this character," she said. "So I would love to do it [again]. It just depends on what happens next."